Harper looked thinner and with deep shadows under his eyes. He also sounded like he was trying not to scare small children by using a 'reassuring' voice, ala Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood, which might explain the 'sweater' comments.

But what he said was nothing new and less. We have stimulus. Really. Honest. Those awful oppositioners didn't even give us a chance to govern. They have no democratic right (and I think right there, that was the grenade comment) His talk about using every 'legal' method to stop it just sounded like dogwhistling.

In a way I can understand Dion avoiding the noisy, live venue if he's trying to concentrate on his English. As it was, he seemed both intense and a bit nervous about his pronunciation, and yes, the focus depth was off, so I wouldn't think there was a lot of professional cinematic framing in this, just a camera andddd...'go'.

I'm going to agree with Duffy, just this one time. The only shame, the tape was late, it was blurry and the shot was WAY too tight. The whole thing reeked of amateurism, and there is NO excuse for that. Pisses me off, cooommee on.

I like how M. Duceppe launched right into the falsehood that Harper was looking for specific advice from the other parties by highlighting their effort in November to provide ideas, which Harper rejected after they were commended by his party.

I see Harper is still acting exactly like the Straussian he is at heart, no matter how much certain commentators seem to think I am some sort of old fogy when I refer to this. Straussians among other things do not respect the fundamental rules of the democratic structure that they operate in, as shown by Cheney's declaration of the VP's office being a fourth branch of the US government, and here with Harper's total misunderstanding of how a Westminster Parliamentary government structure works and that the power of a sitting government comes from commanding a majority of the elected seats in the Parliament, which in a minority situation can include coalitions such as the Liberal/NDP coalition proposed supported solely on confidence issues for 18 months by the BQ.

The amount of lying and the forgetting that Harper himself triggered this firestorm with his narrow partisan bullying (which he clearly thought the average person wouldn’t care about, and to which he found out the contrary indeed) is exactly why I opposed Harper, his disrespect for our fundamental rules and traditions of governance is inherently dangerous and undermines the power structure this nation has chosen to be governed by. That any minority PM would act so is beyond belief.

The speech itself was something that let my wife and me scratching our heads in confusion, as nothing new was said, and the lies the same stale crap as we have been hearing over the last week now, combined with the fear and smear approach on Quebec, in a manner which is going to do more to help fan the flames of separatism there than any coalition, let alone the reality of what is proposed by Dion/Layton/Duceppe.

I know I have been silent until now, haven't been feeling well, and quite honestly watching Harper act in such a manner against the traditions and precedents of our system literally sickens me because I have such respect and reverence for them (which is why I tend to argue from that perspective so much, it really is important to me personally). Harper either is indifferent or ignorant of the level of understanding a Grade 7 year student has about how a Parliamentary democracy works based upon what he said tonight and for the last week, and that more than anything else shows just how unfit he is for the office he holds.

i know no ones reads bourque but he has totally jumped the shark tonight, its outrageous. "Coalition leader Stephane Dion, 25 minutes late, waded in with his thoughts, the book 'HOT AIR' inexplicably propped up on a shelf behind his head"

Grr!How could the Libs allow this to happen? This is a giant mess. Look, Dion can't get a tape to the networks on time how on earth could he hope to hold this coalition together. And when it did get there it was terrible. AMATURE! Canada is a G8 nation and he sends out a high school quality tape.I’ll not bother to listen to the endless excuses we’ll get…There is no excuse for this incompetence. Every single thing that Adam Radwanski has written about Dion this week was proven true tonight.The story should have been Harper's bizarro address to the nation......but NOOOOOOO, again it will be Dion Not A Leader.You know why, because he's not! And this is why we lost the election...very badly!

Pete. I'd love to believe that. I want to believe that. Sad to say after tonight I don't.

I will not support Dion as PM. He cannot do this job. Hell, this is job for someone like Chrétien and it would be tough for him too.Running a country isn’t a game. It’s a serious business. I have to think that running this country with two partners would be very tough. Dion can’t do it IMO. Allowing this to happen will damage us ( our Party) for a generation. The mistakes that he makes will affect people’s real lives. Their jobs and their homes.Honestly, I don’t know what we should do. I’m feeling pretty low tonight.Both Harper & Dion will hurt Canada. Diana

When he said, "Let me be clear, I will use any legal means available...", I felt a shiver. I thought, what does that mean? He doesn't even acknowledge or respect parliamentary rules or constitutional rights.

It sounded like a prelude to drastic action. Then my mind drifted to the War Measures Act.

Harper spent his first turn as leader of a minority government bullying his opposition, especially Dion who was made his personal whipping boy. But his actions over the past many weeks show him to be even more power hungry and dangerous than we have ever seen before.

At this point, I'd say Harper is close to being dragged out of the HoC in a straight jacket. Or even worse, he gets his way and this country is a wash.

Fear of "legal means"? Must be a name for that phobia. I suspect if the "coalition" overplays it's hand, he'll a) prorogue, and b) try to lure a few Libs to cross the floor to save their asses. Stronach may not be available, but Iggy might get pried loose.

Steve - "It wasn't just CTV, CBC was making fun as well. The good news, tomorrow is all about the GG, but my good god, there's no excuse for the delay, nor the grade three production quality."

Agreed. I was super pissed. This is not a game, this is serious. Serious for the Country and serious for the Libs/NDP and BQ. If this coalition falls apart then Harper will basically have a majority as the opposition parties can't afford an election. If this coalition forms the government and this turn out badly then Canadians will punish those parties and hand the Conservatives a majority.

I continue to support the coalition. I felt that Dion was the only person to lead it until the leadership race is over - not any more. I watched this farce with several people who are generally Liberal supporters, but not fans of Dion. This was his chance to reasure them. He couldn't have done worse being both significantly late and amateur recording. Many people have said that Harper should put the country ahead of himself and step down. Time for Dion to put the country first. My hope is that the leadership candidates will do the same thing and install the leadership race front runner as the new party leader immediately.

Wow! Beijing, that's wild that you caught that, too! It was palpable, it really was and I thought, OMG, he's up to something really, really bad. The G-G cannot prorogue or we will have the military in our streets!